Jan. 11, 2010

Joseph Taylor, 22, was shot and killed during a suspected home invasion in Shreveport's Caddo Heights neighborhood. / Handout

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A trail of dried blood leading from the front door of a house in Shreveport's Caddo Heights neighborhood betrays the house's peaceful demeanor, giving a hint of the deadly home invasion that happened inside Sunday night.

It's the second two-man home invasion in Shreveport in two weeks that resulted in the shooting death of one of the intruders by an occupant with the intruder's weapon, according to Shreveport police.

About 10 p.m. Sunday, Willie Lee Baker, 29, unlocked the front door of his home in the 5700 block of Sussex Avenue and found his neighbor, Joseph Taylor, 22, inside holding a gun. That's when Taylor, who lived less than 10 houses down, fired a shot that entered Baker's left leg and then his right, according to his mother-in-law, Peggy Marshall, 52, who lives just two houses from Taylor.

The two tussled over the gun, and when Baker finally wrestled it from Taylor's grip, he shot the intruder once in the head, according to Shreveport police. That's when Baker's wife, Latoya Baker, 29, and their 8-year-old son jumped out of the boy's broken bedroom window and ran barefoot down the street to her mother's house.

About half an hour earlier, Latoya Baker was getting ready for bed when she heard a gunshot. She grabbed her son, whose bedroom window had been shattered by a bullet, and holed up inside the bathroom. But Taylor shot through the door and began demanding money, but the woman swore she had none to give, Marshall said. That's when he took her and her son from room to room — even pressing the gun up against her son's cheek at one point — levying demands and firing shots into the ceiling and walls when those demands were not met, Marshall said.

Taylor entered the Baker's home with the help of another man, who abandoned the attempt when it became clear the Bakers did not have any cash, according to police and Marshall. No description of the man was available as he stayed outside the house the entire time.

Lasonya Marshall, who has since walked through her sister's home inspecting the damage as relatives moved the couple's furniture out of the one-story rental, said she discovered bullet holes throughout the house: one in the boy's room, three in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, three in the couple's bedroom and four in the living room.

"It's just the thought of it," Peggy Marshall said, explaining that her daughter didn't want to live in the house after it became a crime scene. And it's changed her view of the neighborhood where she's lived for the past eight years. "It's more sad than scary. Why would you put a gun to an 8-year-old's head?"

Willie Baker underwent surgery at LSU Hospital in Shreveport on Monday and was listed in good condition that night, according to a nursing supervisor. "They say he's not going to be able to walk for four months," Lasonya Marshall said.

The previous deadly home invasion happened Dec. 29 and led to the death of Jeremy Bell, 18, and arrest of alleged accomplice Jerome Hughes, 23.